Fact of the day

Information is the most powerful weapon.

Monday

Fact N°
1268

In 2006, an MLB pitcher missed three playoff games due to video-game related injury.

The 2006 American League Championship Series (ALCS) pitted the Detroit Tigers against the Oakland A's. Detroit was the favorite and they swept the A's in four games to go on to the World Series.
No thanks to rookie relief pitching sensation Joel Zumaya, whose fastball was routinely clocked at 100 mph or higher and was a key component of Detroit's effective bullpen: Zumaya had played a little too much Guitar Hero II, causing his right (pitching) arm to become inflamed. He missed three games of the ALCS and, according to some, pitched ineffectively against the Cardinals in the World Series, which Detroit lost four games to one.

Tuesday

Fact N°
1269

Heinz's "57 Varieties" was inspired by an ad for shoes.

In 1876, Henry Heinz first introduced his now-famous Heinz tomato ketchup, but it would be another 20 years before he adopted its familiar slogan. In fact, contrary to popular perception, the slogan "57 Varieties" does not indicate anything. It's meaningless.
In 1896, Heinz was on an elevated New York train when he saw an ad that offered "21 styles." In short, he liked the ring to it, determined 57 to be a good number, and put "57 Varieties" on all his products (which at the time totaled over 60; today it's closer to 1000).

Wednesday

Fact N°
1270

A respected museum confirms it: you are almost always within six feet of a spider.

It's commonly repeated as fact, but according to Dr. Vladimir Ovtsharenko of the American Museum of Natural History, we really are "rarely more than six feet away from a spider.: Why or how? On the museum web site, Dr. Ovtsharenko writes that "Spiders live everywhere, from Alpine peaks to deserts -- even underwater. There are more individual spiders, and more spider species, than in any other group of predators."
He adds that "Their sheer numbers, coupled with their enormous appetites, make spiders the planet's dominant terrestrial predators," whether you like it or not.

Thursday

Fact N°
1271

An estimated 100,000 men are victims of domestic abuse each year in the U.S.

This is according to the latest figures from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime Data Brief, which reports that in 2001, men were the victims of nonfatal violence committed by current or former spouses, boyfriends or girlfriends an estimated 103,220 times. This is down from 1993, when the number was over 163,000.
Still, men as victims are the minority, accounting for only %15 of the victims; women were victims over 588,000 times in 2001.

Friday

Fact N°
1272

The female lion does more than 90% of the hunting.

Lions live in prides, which total from a few lions up to 30 or more. Females make up the huge majority of lions in a pride, and while they are tasked with doing most of the hunting, this isn't to say that males do nothing at all; the males stick around to defend their pride and their territory.
This is harder than it sounds. Females remain with the same pride for life, but males last only a few years before other male lions either kill them or manage to "evict" them from the pride. When one or more new males assume control, they typically kill any cubs in the pride, since females don't mate while raising cubs and the males don't have much time to procreate before they, too, are killed or evicted from the pride.

Saturday

Fact N°
1273

There is no fantasy baseball league quite like Tout Wars.

Tout Wars is the name of the most competitive and high-profile fantasy baseball league around, composed of a few dozen industry established fantasy baseball experts including statisticians, analysts, writers, and others. It is by invitation only, and features an AL-only league, an NL-only league and a mixed league.
It was founded in 1997 by Ron Shandler, author of the Baseball Forecaster for the past 20 years, a groundbreaking publication that analyzes baseball stats objectively in order to predict how a player will perform.

Sunday

Fact N°
1274

"Dog years" are an inaccurate method of determining a pet's age relative to humans.

Typically we multiply a dog's age in years by seven to determine how "old" a dog or cat is. However, the developmental stages of animals are vastly different than those of humans, rendering the x7 method entirely unscientific.
Instead, Antech Diagnostic Veterinary Laboratories suggests a more accurate measure of a dog's age: his first year is about equal to 15 human years; his second is equal to 9; from age three on, every year of the dog's life would be equal to four years.